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Avoiding censure from the European Commission, France has dropped its restrictive practices on Eurofranc management and listings. By Gilles Endréo of Linklaters & Paines, Paris

The Financial Transactions Reporting Act 1996 seeks to combat money-laundering through financial institutions in New Zealand. The Act imposes various obligations on 'financial institutions' (defined widely), including the obligation to report suspicious transactions to the police.

Two recent Court of Appeal decisions in Hong Kong each touched on an issue of concern to banks in their dealings with customers and third parties: first, whether a mortgagee is bound by a Mareva injunction, and secondly whether a trust can be impressed on deposits secured by contract.

China promulgated the PRC Anti-dumping and Anti-subsidy Regulations on March 25 1997. The Regulations aim to maintain fair competition in foreign trade and protect the relevant Chinese domestic industries in the event dumped and subsidized 'imported products' cause substantial damage to the established domestic industries, pose a substantial threat of damage, or create substantial obstacles to the establishment of domestic industries.

Third Annual In-House Counsel Event

Former special counsel at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Walter Van Dorn, is to join the London office of US firm Rogers & Wells. Based for a transition period in the firm's Washington DC office, he expects to be permanently resident in the UK by around October. Van Dorn expects to work on ADR offerings and listing of non-US companies on US exchanges. "London is really the hub for trans-national and international work. With the fall of the communist bloc that demand increased," he says. "Rogers & Wells was looking for US lawyers as are a lot of US firms. European companies need this sort of advice, and it is convenient to have the skills on offer in London so clients can cut right to the chase."

Despite the growing economy, Finland’s lawyers find there is not enough work to go round. Firms are being forced to refocus and reassess their business. Clare Hepburn reports

UK firm Lovell White Durrant is to open for business in Russia. In charge of setting up a Moscow office is partner Christopher Smith, head of Lovell's Central and Eastern European practice and of the Prague office. Smith previously set up the firm's Beijing office and will be dividing his time between Moscow and Prague. Resident head of the office will be Daniel Gogek, an associate who moves from Freshfields' Moscow office. He was previously at White & Case and Coudert Brothers. Freshfields partner Christian Salbang worked closely with him and says: "The last we knew was that he had decided to leave the law and go back to Canada to work in business, so it is rather a surprise. But he is a competent fellow with a lot of experience and I hope he finds at Lovell what he wasn't able to find at Freshfields."

Allen & Overy's Warsaw office will be joined by two partners and seven Polish associates from May 1 after UK firm Nabarro Nathanson agreed to close its office and transfer the staff and clients to Allen & Overy. English resident partner Michael Davies, who set up the Nabarro Nathanson office in 1991, joins Allen & Overy as a partner in Warsaw with Polish lawyer Tomasz Dobrowolski. Nabarro's senior partner David Bramson says the move followed a review of strategy. "We have terrific people there but we wanted them to find a safe haven because to make the Warsaw office fly we would have had to put in at least £1 million," he comments.

US firm Chadbourne & Parke has installed recently-acquired project finance partner Ian Johnson as head of a new office in Singapore. Joining him there is senior associate Bruce Rader, who moves to Singapore from New York. The office opened on April 14, and will focus on project finance, capital markets and cross-border transactions. It aims to strengthen the firm's Asian presence and complement the Hong Kong office.